Nuclear energy is vital, but we do need independent regulation

The ongoing protests against the Kudankulam nuclear power project are misguided, as they gloss over ground realities and make inappropriate comparisons. However, we do need independent regulatory oversight over all 20 nuclear power reactors operating nationally, and six others, including Kudankulam, under construction.

It is vital to have an institutional mechanism separate from the government to mitigate concerns over plant and environmental safety, and other misgivings. Independent regulation of nuclear energy has emerged as the global norm, and we do need systemic overhaul here. But the idea that nuclear power simply does not make sense is untenable, given widespread energy poverty.

The way ahead is to master the nuclear cycle, source the latest technology and uranium fuel from abroad, for which the Indo-US nuclear deal has been the key enabler. It would put us on track to operate reactors using locallyavailable thorium. It is possible the world's long-term energy future would mostly involve controlled nuclear fusion.

A small group of nations, India included, is already pooling resources to work to achieve the technological capability for fusion. Hence the need to be proactive on nuclear power, complete with sound regulatory design. It makes no sense to cite the accident at the Fukushima plant in Japan (which, notably, involved no fatalities) and draw all the wrong conclusions for Kudankulam.

The latter is located in the least-hazardous seismic zone in the country and is also far removed from tsunami activity, while the former was in a region that is both earthquakeand tsunami-prone, and it was the sheer intensity of the twin natural disasters that caused the crisis.

Also, while Kudankulam consists of advanced Russian reactors with up-to-date safety and shutdown features and passive heat-removal systems to avoid untoward heating of the nuclear core, Fukushima was of a far older vintage and unfortunately lacked basic flood-proofing of the backup generators.

Nuclear energy is a vital part of the diverse portfolio of energy sources that India has to muster and master to sustain growth and eliminate poverty.